Inspire!

scenes from the last couple weeks

Summer is… teatime on a park bench by a sparkling fountain… surrounded by hanging flower baskets, visiting Barnes & Noble and spotting TeaTime Magazine on the shelf (the one that contains the feature article I wrote and photographed last summer…), rainbows right outside our front door after an abrupt downpour, the sweet scent of petunias,…

a garden wedding

Hello, Lovelies… Here are some snapshots from our dear friends’ garden party wedding today here in Red Wing Minnesota…. Jeff took the formal photos, I got some candid shots…. and I made the wedding cake. Thank you Karen, from The Crystallized Flower Company, for the gorgeous crystallized flowers. So, so pretty. XO, ~Melissa

scenes from summer staycation 2013 ~ part 1

The last couple days have been so relaxing and wonderful. This year for our summer “vacation” we’ve decided to hang out in our own town, Red Wing Minnesota, and surrounding areas. I sometimes forget how much beauty we have just outside our door. We live in a very unique part of the state. Unlike the…

rose soiree

I love weekends like this past one. Dinner out on Friday night at a wonderful riverside restaurant to celebrate our second feature article in TeaTime Magazine! (I promise I’ll tell you more about this soon!)… Cherry Berry and shopping on Saturday… Pizza and drinks on a garden-side patio with our dear friend Brad Saturday evening….…

morel fritters

Here we are at the beginning of another week. We’re tying to keep it slow going and relaxing this summer, but somehow the calendar always seems to fill up. I’m not complaining though. Although we always seem to be a bit busier that I’d like, I’m thankful that we’re moving forward with our dreams and…

summer pleasures & tea party gardens

The mercury is rising…. time to enjoy our fresh air rooms…. hang lavender scented linens on the clothesline… pack a picnic basket…make a jar of sun tea… take a little summer “staycation”… go to an art fair… read a book at the water park… chase the ice cream truck…take a hammock nap… and just be….…

a six senses post

seeing ~ beautiful, fresh flowers growing all over Red Wing, spilling from the many gardens and hanging baskets that adorn our pretty town…lovely stalls of baked goods, flowers, jams, jellies, pickles, and other delights at the Red Wing Farmer’s Market…best friends…THIS BOOK…antiques and thrift store finds…ferns, herbs, lilies and hostas flourishing after all of the…

orzo picnic salad

My birthday week. I can’t remember a birthday week that was ever so rainy, but I’ve been making the best of it. My friends have been bringing me food gifts (which I love), morels and rhubarb and fresh-caught-right-out-of-the-Cannon-river trout! We piled those yummy, buttery morels on toast, baked the rhubarb into crisps and cakes, and…

scenes from the last week

Jeff made awesome crispy chicken salads for dinner a day to myself : candles THIS MOVIE, needlework, iced tea, and garlic bread pizza lilacs blooming all over Red Wing…. we’re planting 8 lilac bushes this year! Gracie sporting her new “Moustache Shades.” while sipping tea… the “incredibly disappearing” strawberry rhubarb crisp… thanks for the rhubarb,…